


Of course, it's you.

by Kebbi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Domestic Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Roommates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29429679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kebbi/pseuds/Kebbi
Summary: This wasn’t what he thought getting a soulmark would be like. It should have been more. He should have noticed when it appeared, maybe felt a tickle on his skin as his eyes met with someone else’s, their expression betraying that they’d felt it too.But no, none of that. His mark was just there, and Tsukishima couldn’t even be sure when it’d appeared.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 18
Kudos: 152
Collections: Haikyuu!! Valentine Exchange





	Of course, it's you.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cellomanlove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cellomanlove/gifts).



> This is my valentine exchange gift for LNZ! I tried to include many of the prompts you've given, so I hope you enjoy the story~  
> I was very happy to be matched with someone who also loves krtsk (&bakt) :)  
> Happy Valentine's Day <3
> 
> This story was beta-read by Ker (https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilleeboi/profile)! It was once again very, very nice to work with you, thanks a lot! :)

🍓

“Wait, Tsukki, what’s that?” Yamaguchi asked, and Tsukishima felt his friend’s gaze on his back.

“What do you mean?” He frowned and grabbed his gym shirt from his bag to slip it on. 

Before he could, Yamaguchi grabbed his wrist to stop him. “Your mark! Since when do you have that? Why didn’t you tell me?” The freckled boy sounded almost a little offended.

“My—what?”

“Your soulmark! When did you get it?”

“Tsukishima has his soulmark?!” Hinata excitedly piped in.

“No, I don’t.” Surely, he would have known if he did, right? It didn’t just appear without him noticing, right? Yamaguchi must have been messing with him.

“You do!” his friend insisted. “It’s a cat.”

“Oh, oh, maybe it’s someone from Nekoma!” Hinata bounced up and down in the locker room, vibrating with excitement, as though it was about his own soulmark and not Tsukishima’s.

“I—where?!” The blonde was starting to feel unsettled. Maybe they did appear just like that, maybe Yamaguchi wasn’t messing with him after all, and he simply hadn’t noticed because it was on his back. He tried to turn his head far enough to look over his shoulder and catch a glimpse, but he couldn’t see anything. 

“I’ll take a picture,” Yamaguchi helpfully suggested, already whipping his phone out and handing it to Tsukishima a moment later.

The picture clearly showed _him_ ; the blond locks in his neck visible, the lockers in the background. But right there, engraved into the pale skin between his shoulder blades, was the foreign silhouette of a black cat. 

His free hand reached for his back, trying to feel for something, but all his fingers came across was plain old skin. This wasn’t what he thought getting a soulmark would be like. It should have been _more_. He should have noticed when it appeared, maybe felt a tickle on his skin as his eyes met with someone else’s, their expression betraying that they’d felt it too.

But no, none of that. His mark was just there, and Tsukishima couldn’t even be sure when it’d appeared. Maybe just this morning, he could’ve met them on the way to school. It could also be older than that, a day or two, or perhaps a whole week. Hinata could be right then, it could be someone from Nekoma. They’d first met the team at last week's practice match, after all. But wouldn’t that be too simple?

He sighed and finally pulled on his shirt.

“Let’s go to practice,” he mumbled as he grabbed his water bottle.

Yamaguchi followed him to the gym. “Do you have any idea who it is?”

Tsukishima shrugged.

“Should I ask Kenma if someone on his team got a soulmark too?” Hinata jogged up to them, his eyes still sparkling with blinding enthusiasm. “Maybe it’s even Kenma himself. Man, you’d be so lucky. Or maybe it’s Kuroo! He has black hair!” the short boy rambled on.

“Don’t do anything unnecessary,” Tsukishima replied, his tone perhaps a little too cold. “I don’t know when the mark appeared, so it might have appeared a week ago, or a month ago, or just yesterday. And a black cat isn’t something very characteristic. Maybe my soulmate is from Nekoma, or maybe they like black cats, or own one, or like to wear sweaters with cat patterns. Doing anything now would be hasty.”

“You’re no fun,” Hinata pouted but stuck to Tsukishima’s wish not to mention it to Kenma.

If Tsukishima was honest with himself, a part of him wanted to know. But his soulmark wasn’t specific enough to be sure of anything, even if someone from Nekoma _did_ happen to get their mark just recently. He didn’t want to be hopeful in vain just to find out later that the other person isn’t his soulmate after all. Or, even worse, he could find out that his mark belonged to one of the more obnoxious people on the team, like that Tanaka copy or their rude captain.

No, Tsukishima was surely better off not doing anything.

🐾

The air in the gym was stuffy, smelling like summer and sweat. Kuroo was glad he wasn’t part of the team that had to do penalties right now. One of the benefits that came with inviting Karasuno to the training camp he supposed. Contrary to the poor crows diving around the gym, he was able to take a break and cool off from the previous matches.

“When did you say your soulmark appeared?” Bokuto asked, watching Karasuno doing their penalty from his spot on the bench next to Kuroo.

“Mmh, I’m pretty sure it was on the day of the match with Karasuno. Or maybe the day before or after. But I’m pretty sure it can’t be much older or else I would have noticed it earlier.”

“Maybe it’s their captain,” Bokuto suggested, and Kuroo’s eyes wandered briefly to the dark-haired man leading his team through the penalty.

“It’s not like I haven’t considered that,” He shrugged, taking a sip from his bottle. “But it could be anyone. Who doesn’t like strawberries?”

“True. That sucks, bro. Guess not everyone can be as lucky as me and Akaashi.”

Kuroo sighed. They’d been lucky indeed, Bokuto had seen the soulmark appear on Akaashi’s neck the second their eyes had met for the first time. Nothing like that happened to Kuroo, and since his mark was on his hip bone, he was pretty sure his soulmate couldn’t have seen it appearing on him either.

“What about him?” His friend suddenly asked, pulling him out of his trance. Kuroo followed his gaze to the tall blonde diving to the gym floor and pulling himself up again. If Kuroo was being honest, the blonde had been the first one he’d thought of when he found his soulmark the morning after the match. If only because the boy had caught his eye.

“Nah,” Kuroo waved him off. “How would he match my soulmark?”

“His hair’s strawberry blonde?”

“That’s not what strawberry blonde looks like, bro.”

The wing spiker pouted. “What does it look like then?” 

Kuroo shrugged. “More like that,” he replied, nodding over to Yaku who was heading over to where they were sitting.

“Oh, maybe it’s Yaku then?” Bokuto wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“I’m what?” The libero asked as he settled himself next to Kuroo.

“My soulmate.”

“Ew, no, gross.”

“Guess it’s not him, Kou.”

They dropped the topic after that, but Kuroo couldn’t push it aside that easily. His eyes kept following the crows, trying to catch a glimpse of something that would give his soulmate away. When he took the symbol that decorated his hip into consideration, it seemed most likely for his soulmate to be their 1st year manager. A strawberry would suit a cute girl like her, right? But he wasn’t even sure if she’d been around at the match. Then maybe their other manager? Or that quirky shrimp? All of them seemed more likely than a certain middle blocker. Yet, he found his thoughts coming back to the tall blonde again and again. Something about the way he carried himself felt oddly intriguing to Kuroo. He had to get to know him, even if he wasn’t Kuroo’s soulmate.

A few weeks later, the feeling still hadn’t subsided. So, when Karasuno joined them again at the next training camp, he decided he had to do something. 

After the official practice had ended for the night, his chance came. As always, he was in the third gym with Bokuto and Akaashi. It’d become a bit of a tradition to practice together at the training camps, since they didn’t usually get to play with each other much. Today though, he had to take care of Nekoma’s new problem child. He was still torturing Lev with receiving practice, when he saw the tall blonde middle blocker walking past the entrance. 

Kuroo stepped into the door frame, trying to look cool and collected, even though his heart was doing summersaults. He took a steadying breath before calling out to him.

  
  


“Are you sure it isn’t him?” Bokuto asked him later that night. 

Kuroo shrugged. “I don’t really see that salty bean pole going crazy for strawberries.” 

Sure, it _could_ be him. But it was a lot more likely that it wasn’t, and he didn’t want to get his hopes up in vain. Nevertheless, his eyes kept searching for a soulmark on Tsukishima’s skin that would indicate that he’d already met his soulmate. But he came up empty.

“Hm. You should still ask him for his number, Tetsu.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

🍓

Tsukishima had stayed in touch with Kuroo after the training camps in his first year. He’d been surprised when the Nekoma captain asked for his number and even more so when they’d kept messaging each other, with no sign of Kuroo growing tired of him. 

The contact had become a little more sparse recently; Kuroo was busy with college, and Tsukishima—now a third year himself—was stressing about exams and college applications. But every few weeks or so, Kuroo would drop him a message, asking how he was doing or sending a picture of a cat encountered.

Whenever it happened, Tsukishima’s mind would wander to the black cat sitting between his shoulder blades, the matching soulmate still undiscovered. _Maybe_ , a hopeful voice in his mind would whisper, _maybe it’s him after all_. But if he was, Kuroo surely would have noticed, right? Surely he would have given him some kind of sign?

The last few weeks of school went by in a flash, and before he knew it, Tsukishima was graduating and taking pictures with his friends in their school uniforms after the ceremony. Yamaguchi was crying in most of the pictures, and even Tsukishima felt a little rueful saying goodbye to his high school life. Over the years, he’d grown quite attached to the school and the volleyball club, and even though he was sure he would stay in touch with his friends, it wouldn’t be the same.

To his surprise, Kuroo had offered to drive to Miyagi for his graduation ceremony, but Tsukishima had refused. Kuroo was surely busy himself and had better things to do than wasting a whole day like that. It was a nice offer, though. The thought of Kuroo waiting for Tsukishima at the gate of his school, flowers in his hands and a big smile on his face haunted Tsukishima’s dreams more than once.

A few weeks later—Tsukishima was checking his mail inbox for the umpteenth time that day, desperately hoping to finally have a reply from the student dorms in Tokyo—his phone rang with a call from Kuroo. 

“Hey,” Tsukishima said as he picked up, thankful for the distraction.

“Hey,” Kuroo’s voice sounded like he was smiling, and even though they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, Tsukishima could picture it in his head. “How was your graduation ceremony? I’m still a little heartbroken you didn’t want me there.”

“That’s not how—” he interrupted himself with a sigh. “It was nice.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Yeah.” He refreshed his inbox once more, no new mails showing up. “How are you? How’s college going?”

“Hm, I’m fine. Exams have been kicking my butt.” Kuroo chuckled and Tsukishima tried to ignore the way it made his heart skip a beat. “What about you? You’re coming to Tokyo, right?” 

“Yeah, I got in.”

“Do you already have a place to stay?” Of course Kuroo had to bring that up. Worst distraction ever.

“Not yet. I hope to get a room at the dorms but I haven’t heard back from them yet.” 

“You can stay with me,” Kuroo said casually, as though he wasn’t just suggesting they should move in together.

Tsukishima swallowed. “What?”

“Kou is moving in with Akaashi in a few weeks, so I would have to look for a new roommate anyway. And I’d rather have you than a random stranger.”

“I—uh.” Tsukishima felt tempted to pinch himself, just to make sure this was really happening.

“Just think about it. I can message you the details later.”

“Yeah,” Tsukishima nudged his glasses into place. “Yeah, thank you.”

🐾

Three years had come and passed since the small symbol had appeared on his hip bone, and at this point, Kuroo didn’t think he would ever find out who his soulmate was. The mark was just too generic. “I love strawberries, you know,” one night stands would tell him. “Maybe this is fate.” But it never was, Kuroo knew that all too well.

These days, he wasn’t really bringing anyone home though. It used to be a way for him to relieve all the college stress. But now that Tsukishima was living with him, the thought of bringing someone into their shared home made him uncomfortable. For whatever reason, and Kuroo doubted it was a lack of suitors, Tsukishima didn’t bring anyone either. Kuroo was thankful for it, he wasn’t sure he would be able to sleep if he knew that Tsukishima wasn’t alone in the room next door.

Living with Tsukishima was easy. They hadn’t even been that close the last few years, but Tsukishima fit right into his life, as though he’d always been there. 

He did have to realize though, that his crush on the blonde middle blocker hadn’t faded at all. On the contrary, living together just made it worse. But really, it was impossible to not be at least a little in love with Tsukishima. Even more so when you got to catch him asleep on the couch, glasses askew and a pillow hugged tightly to his chest. Or when you got to see him shuffling into the kitchen like now, all sleepy with his hair still tousled. Kuroo suppressed the urge to run his hands through the blonde mess.

“Morning,” Tsukishima mumbled, rubbing at his eyes before putting his glasses on.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Kuroo couldn’t help smiling at the sight. He poured coffee for his roommate and pushed the cup in his direction. “Slept well?”

“Mhm,” Tsukishima replied, as he added cream and sugar to the dark liquid.

Kuroo had long learned not to take Tsukishima’s grumpiness personally, especially before his first coffee of the day. Tsukishima was not a morning person.

“Anything planned today?” Kuroo asked, taking a sip from his own cup.

“Nah.” The blonde absentmindedly stirred in his drink. “Akiteru wants to come visit next weekend, do you mind?”

“Not at all.” Kuroo grinned. He’d already met Tsukishima’s older brother when he’d helped with the move. At first he’d been a bit reserved, probably the protectiveness of an older sibling, but Kuroo was positive that he’d managed to charm him by the time Akiteru had left for Miyagi.

“We’ll probably head to a café anyway. He’s bringing his fiancée too. Don’t want to annoy you with too many visitors.”

Kuroo chuckled. “It wouldn’t be annoying, don’t worry. We can also make something here if you want.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. I’m not exactly a genius in the kitchen. Shouldn’t you know that by now?”

“Yeah, well, but I am.” He couldn’t help the smug smile that was spreading on his face. “When is he coming? Sunday?”

“Saturday afternoon.”

“We could prepare something after breakfast then. I have a bunch of recipes that aren’t too hard. You can have a look later and choose something.”

“Okay, yeah.”

🍓

Later that week, Tsukishima looked through the recipe book Kuroo had given to him. It looked worn out and had little notes scribbled onto the pages like _add cinnamon_ or _too sweet, less sugar._ He’d been aware that Kuroo liked baking, Tsukishima had been allowed to try the other’s desserts more than once after moving in together. But this kind of passion to the point of trying to perfect the recipes was a little surprising, albeit endearing. A small smile snuck its way onto his lips.

He cleared his throat to ground himself. These kinds of feelings were dangerous territory. 

After browsing the recipes for a while, Tsukishima settled on a raspberry cream dessert that looked delicious. He might ask to make some adjustments, but judging from all the little notes Kuroo had scribbled into his book, Tsukishima was sure he’d be open for changes.

He told Kuroo about his dessert choice later that night, while they were both settled on their couch with tea and a movie. 

“Let’s get the ingredients on friday then, so the berries will be fresh,” Kuroo said, his voice soft and sleepy, leaning in a little too close for comfort. Tsukishima’s senses zeroed in on the places their bodies touched, their knees, their thighs, their shoulders.

“Sure,” he croaked in response, trying to ban all inappropriate thoughts from his mind.

“Good,” Kuroo mumbled, before dropping his head onto Tsukishima’s shoulder, who could barely suppress a flinch. 

“Tired?”

“Mhm.” Kuroo sighed. His black hair tickled on Tsukishima’s skin as he nuzzled into the crook of his neck. “I had to get up way too early.”

“Maybe you should go to bed then.”

“You don’t want me around, Tsukki?”

If he’d been honest, he would have said, _No, I do want you around. I want you around all the time._ But honesty wasn’t Tsukishima’s strong suit, especially when he knew it wouldn’t lead anywhere. So he just shrugged, earning a groan from Kuroo whose head was still resting on his shoulder.

  
  


Tsukishima wasn’t in the best mood when he made his way home on Friday afternoon. Even though he only had a short day at college, he felt exhausted. Somehow, classes had dragged on forever and Tsukishima felt completely overwhelmed by all the new input they’d gotten in his chem seminar. And because of his brother’s visit tomorrow, he wouldn’t be able to revise his notes again until sunday. _Great._ Not that he didn’t look forward to seeing Akiteru—he did. They hadn’t seen each other since the move a few months ago, after all. But Tsukishima would feel more at ease if he didn’t have to worry about catching up with his seminar all weekend.

With a sigh, he unlocked the door to Kuroo’s and his flat, toed off his shoes at the entrance and made his way to the kitchen. 

Kuroo was sitting at their counter with a coffee and some textbooks, looking up when he walked in. “Welcome home.”

“Hey,” Tsukishima mumbled, dropping onto the chair across from him. He rested his head on the cool countertop, in hopes it would soothe his headache.

“You want one too?” Kuroo lifted his cup with a smile and shook it slightly.

“Yes, please.”

“I’ve got you,” his roommate hummed, as he got Tsukishima’s favourite cup and poured him some coffee, adding sugar and cream as well.

“Thanks, you’re the best.” Tsukishima lifted his head to reach for the cup, just in time to see a soft expression spread over Kuroo’s features.

“Yeah?” The older chuckled, and it was mere luck that Tsukishima didn’t choke on the sip of coffee he took. 

“Don’t let it get to your head, I’m just tired.” He let his head fall back onto the counter, closing his eyes.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Tsukki.”

“Tch.” 

“You do look tired, though.” 

“Mhm.”

“Rough day?” Kuroo reached out over the counter, brushing Tsukishima’s blonde hair out of his forehead with gentle fingers. 

“Mhm.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Mhm-hm.” Tsukishima shook his head.

“Okay.” Kuroo’s hand wandered to the crown of his head, drawing small circular patterns. Tsukishima just let it happen, almost tempted to lean into the soft touch.

But then he opened his eyes and caught Kuroo looking at him with such fondness, it made his heart ache. He felt his cheeks flush red and a lump form in his throat.

With a little too much vigor, he scrambled from the stool, almost knocking his coffee over in the process. 

“I’ll go get groceries,” he sputtered.

Kuroo eyed him, one eyebrow raised in confusion. “Didn’t we want to go together? If you give me a minute I’ll—”

“It’s fine! I’ll go.”

  
  


🐾

When he heard the door clunk shut, Kuroo was still standing in the kitchen, unsure of what had just happened for Tsukishima to flee like that. Looking at his own hand in wonder, he let out a long breath. He’d probably crossed a line and made his roommate uncomfortable. He would apologize later.

Kuroo could have sworn though that for a second there, Tsukishima had seemed content and at peace, leaning into his touch. But the moment had ended abruptly and Tsukishima had left their flat, as though he was on the run.

It was times like this when Kuroo found himself wishing for a soulmark that was a little more straightforward. A moon perhaps, or a firefly.

When Kuroo woke up on Saturday, Tsukishima was already awake, eating the tiniest bowl of cornflakes and sipping on his coffee. Kuroo briefly wondered if the two of them were drinking too much coffee for it to be healthy, but quickly abandoned the thought in favor of getting a cup for himself. He took a bowl for cornflakes too, and sat down next to his roommate. It was a quiet breakfast, but it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, so Kuroo didn’t worry much about the awkward situation from the day before.

“Should we make a start on the desserts?” Kuroo asked, as he emptied the last bit of his cornflakes, stacking his empty bowl on top of Tsukishima’s.

“I’ll do the dishes first so you can get the stuff out?” Tsukishima got up, dropping their bowls and spoons, as well as the dishes from yesterday’s dinner, into the sink.

Kuroo forced himself not to stare at Tsukishima’s endless legs and instead focused on the task at hand. “Sure.”

When he opened the fridge, instead of raspberries he was greeted with three packages of strawberries sitting neatly in between their other groceries.

“No raspberries?”

Tsukishima shrugged, as he moved a plate to the drying rack. “They were out.”

“Oh, okay. Strawberries will do then.” Why Tsukishima had deemed it necessary to buy three whole boxes was beyond him.

He wasn’t left in the dark for long. While Kuroo neatly layered the dessert cream and strawberry slices into glasses, Tsukishima watched him intently as he ate one strawberry after the other. Tsukishima, who skipped way too many meals and had only the smallest portions when he did eat, _that Tsukishima_ was now non-stop munching on strawberries.

“Don’t worry, I bought three boxes, we’ll be fine,” his roommate eventually mumbled, having seemingly noticed Kuroo’s stare.

“No, that’s not—” Kuroo interrupted himself, his mouth closing and opening again.

Of course. _Of course._

_It was him._

“You really like strawberries, huh?”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Yeah. They are my favorites.”

“No, I mean,” Kuroo pulled up the hem of his shirt, revealing the mark on his hip bone. _“You really like strawberries.”_

Tsukishima gaped at him, the fruit he’d just picked up slipping out of his fingers and rolling over the kitchen counter.

“I can’t believe Hinata was right.”

“Why are you bringing up the shrimp now?”

“He said it would be you when he first saw my mark.”

It should have been obvious that Tsukishima would have a mark for him too. Yet, the realization hit him like a truck. Tsukishima had _Kuroo’s_ soulmark on his body. It’d been imprinted somewhere on Tsukishima’s skin since they’d first met in high school, just waiting for them to connect the dots.

“Can I see?”

Tsukishima’s eyes went wide, before he reluctantly nodded. He turned his back to Kuroo and pulled his shirt up over his head, revealing his pale back, his spine and then a small black cat sitting right between his shoulder blades.

Kuroo couldn’t help but gasp. Without thinking, he stepped closer, lifting his hand to trace the mark. Tsukishima tensed up for a second, but soon relaxed into the touch.

“Why did you never say anything?” Kuroo whispered. “Did you hope for someone else?”

“No,” Tsukishima replied, and Kuroo could watch the blush crawling up his neck. “I was just afraid of being wrong.”

“Yeah. I get that.” Kuroo smiled. “Me too.” He moved his hand to Tsukishima’s shoulder, making the taller man turn around. It left them standing a little too close, Tsukishima’s breath fanning over Kuroo’s nose. He didn’t mind. 

Kuroo gazed into Tsukishima’s golden eyes, until he felt them dropping to his lips. He swallowed, his own gaze wandering to Tsukishima’s mouth and back up again.

_Can I?_ he wanted to ask, but then he already felt soft lips against his own.

Their first kiss tasted like strawberries.

“I wish we’d done this earlier,” Kuroo whispered when they finally parted.

“Guess we should have had an honest talk.”

“Yeah.” Kuroo grinned. “Let’s save each other some trouble and be honest with each other from now on.”

“So you want honesty, huh?”

“Always,” he replied, pressing a quick kiss on the corner of Tsukishima’s mouth.

“I lied about the raspberries,” Tsukishima whispered against Kuroo’s lips, a grin decorating his own. “I just didn’t buy them because they are clearly the inferior fruit. They aren’t even real berries.”

“Neither are strawberries.”

“Irrelevant.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate every comment and kudos! <3


End file.
